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Friday, 13 January 2017

The Ottoman Empire by Hourly History – Book Review

This
is a book about the Ottoman Empire as part of the concise Hourly History
series. This book starts with the establishment of the empire by the Turkic
tribes led by Osman which eventually overthrows the Byzantine Empire and takes
over the city of Constantinople (present day Istabanbul) and establishes the
Ottoman Empire; a realm which at its height expanded from Belgrade to Baghdad.

The book started with the establishment of the empire, the eventual
expansion to the Balkans and Arabia, how the empire embraced pluralism and the
influence exerted by the Jews and the Armenians (till the genocide), broad
description of various critical battles during the course of the Ottoman Empire
such as the Battle of Lepanto (against the Holy League) and the Crimean war
against Russia. It eventually went on describing the role of the Empire in the
First World War; the defeat which led to the dissolution of the Empire leading
to the Treaty of Sevres subsequently overwritten by the Treaty of Lausanne
thereby ending the Ottoman Empire and forming the secular Turkish republic.

The book was effective in bringing about the lifestyle and the
system of guilds, the role of religion in the society and also touched upon
some of the important events throughout the course of the existence of the
empire. However, I was surprised to see certain misses, such as the sanjak
system which was effective in controlling such vast diverse territory or about
the ruthless janissary battalions or as to how the Ottomans expanded to Greece
and how the Sultan actually made efforts to incorporate Greece as a part of
Turkey by actually shifting base to Greece and I might have perhaps liked it if
there was at least a mention of conversion of Hagia Sophia to a mosque after
the Ottoman takeover. However, not all these could have been covered in an hour
but certain compromises could have been done to the highly elaborate description
on guilds and instead, one of these could have been incorporated.

On the whole, the book satisfied the objective of passing on a lot
of information in an hour and I guess it has served its purpose. I would award
the book a rating of six on ten.